Blockchain Revolution

Emergence of a New Music Business Model
The combination of blockchain-based platforms and smart contracts—plus the artistic
community’s standards of inclusion, integrity, and transparency in deal making,
privacy, security, respect of rights, and fair exchange of value—could enable artists
and their collaborators to form a new music ecosystem.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just decide how I’d like my music to be shared or
experienced?” Heap asked. “To simply upload a piece of music, for example, and all
its related content to one place online, for all to tap into and derive from. Usage rights,
ownership, the equivalent of today’s liner notes. Video, latest biography,” and all
other parties—not just record labels, music publishers, and tour promoters but also
corporations looking for jingles, TV producers looking for soundtracks, mobile
service providers looking for ringtones, and the many fans looking to do fan videos—
could decide whether to agree to Heap’s terms of use. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to feel
the presence of the artist, that if they make that decision about their music, it’s really
felt in a real physical sense, even from one day to the next?” she said. “I may decide,
hey, it’s my birthday today, all my music is for free or . . . if you’re under sixteen or

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over sixty, it’s on me! Or to divert all payments due to me to a relief fund, with just a
few alterations of wording in the smart contract.”
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That’s the goal of designing an artist-centric model on the blockchain, not a model
centered on music labels or tech distributors. Artists could produce music and be paid
fairly for the value they create, and lovers of music could consume, share, remix, and
otherwise enjoy what they love and pay a fair value. This model wouldn’t exclude
labels or digital distributors, but they would be equal rather than dominant members
of the ecosystem.
The new music industry is not a pipedream. In October 2015, Heap launched her
first experiment by releasing her song “Tiny Human,” and all related data—the
instrumental version, seven stereo stems, front cover image, music video, liner notes
on musicians, gear, credits, lyrics, acknowledgments, and useful links, and the story
behind the song—on the Internet.
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These details would increase her discoverability
on the Internet, that is, to help potential collaborators to find her.
Heap invited fans, developers, and services to upload her song to their various
platforms and to share their work as well. She granted them nonexclusive rights to
create an Imogen Heap artist profile, provided that they gave her the login details and
permissions after uploading her files to their systems. If they expected revenue
streams, then she asked them to provide payment models, percentages, and amounts
so that she could factor those details into her analysis of the experiment. Finally, she
welcomed donations to her bitcoin address and promised to direct half the proceeds to
her charitable foundation, Mycelia, her name for this new ecosystem. Usage data and